Friendship is Never Absolute
by SuperPaperBag
Summary: It was inevitable that they would become friends. They were the first two demons to join the Grand Chase, and demons and humans never could quite understand each other. Threeshot of the strange friendship between Zero and Dio. Rated M to be safe. No yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

Dinner at the Grand Chase headquarters was served at seven-thirty P.M. At that time, all of the chasers currently not on missions would sit down together in the dining room and eat. However, there were four members of Grand Chase that rarely even set foot in the dining room. Demons did not have to eat, and when they chose to they did not find mortal food particularly palatable.

During the time the others were eating, Zero, Dio, Ley, and Rufus normally occupied the living room. Today, though, Rufus was not present; no one quite knew where he was and no one was really concerned about his location. Dio and Ley were squabbling near the window, their petty argument becoming more heated as they began to reach for their weapons. Zero was seated in a chair in one corner of the room, Grandark reposing on his lap. The wanderer was cleaning his blade with a cloth and absentmindedly listening to the nearby conversation.

"Hah! You dare call **me** lazy?" the stygian cried indignantly. "**You** summon monsters to fight for you. Hell, you don't even walk—you float! I wouldn't be surprised if you were overweight from all that inactivity!"

"You **dare** call me **fat**?" Ley challenged, quickly slapping the other demon across the face with her open palm. From there a physical fight commenced, the two demons not concerned in the slightest about the furniture they destroyed and/or stained with each other's blood.

Zero remained in his seat, unfazed by such a common occurrence. The two combatants would be reprimanded and forced to clean up the mess later. He continued with his ministrations, ignoring the din of battle and focusing on removing dried blood and grime from the sword's tip.

After a few minutes the window was shattered into millions of pieces, courtesy of Dio's "Phase Edge" technique. The sound of breaking glass caused Grandark to wake. The sword opened its eye, glared at the two brawling demons in irritation, and promptly stared up at its wielder.

"…Zero, get me out of here. I can't stand this infernal racket."

Without a word, the wanderer placed the dirtied cloth he had cleaned the sword with in his back pocket, placed Grandark on his back, stood up from the chair, and left the room. He had never announced his presence when departing before, and he found no reason to do so while the other two occupants of the room were focused on attempting to annihilate each other.

Zero walked to his room quickly. There was no one in the hallway to prevent him from reaching his intended destination; the silence that accompanied the wanderer was nearly oppressive. He was used to silence, though, and by now it did not particularly bother him. Actually, the wanderer rather enjoyed the quiet, as it allowed him to think clearly.

Eventually he reached the room that had been given to him when he joined Grand Chase. He opened the door, walked inside, and closed said door behind him, the soft click of the lock snapping Zero from his musings. The wanderer's room was extremely plain, containing only the bare minimum in terms of furniture. The bed was untouched—it would remain that way until Zero decided to indulge in the luxury of sleeping—the room was kept uncannily orderly, and the only thing even remotely interesting was the bookshelf. The shelf contained a handful of books that varied in subject and length. When the demon was not training, on a mission, or tending to Grandark, he found the company of book quite pleasant.

Zero seated himself on the armchair near the bookshelf and resumed cleaning his blade. Eventually he finished his task and casually looked up at the time, realizing that nearly half an hour had passed. The wanderer left the sword in his lap and was about to reach for a book when there was a sudden rapping noise on the door, soon followed by a harsh: "…It's me, Dio. Open the damn door."

He promptly did as requested, replacing Grandark on his back. On the other side of the door was a bloody and bruised stygian. The worst of Dio's cuts were sloppily bandaged; despite this it seemed as though most of the bleeding had been stanched. A demon's healing abilities were truly remarkable. If Zero watched any single wound on the magenta-haired demon's body for a while, he could observe it slowly heal before his eyes.

"I need your help," the stygian stated.

"With what?"

"Let me come in first."

Zero stepped to one side, allowing the other demon to enter. After the wanderer closed the door, Dio sighed and stared up at the ceiling. "The b*tch send that dog of hers after me again," he explained with a groan. "Normally that's not that big of a deal—she's been doing that ever since we were kids—but this time that damn mutt got a fang imbedded in my back. I…I can't reach it, and I don't want to ask anyone else to get it out for me. Can you do it?" He looked at the wanderer expectantly, hoping to see some sort of emotion on Zero's blank features.

The wanderer kept his expression void of emotion and calmly replied, "Alright."

A look of mild disappointment appeared on Dio's face for a brief moment before it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. The stygian reached into his pocket and fished out a folded square of gauze, which he then handed to Zero. "Use that to stop the bleeding."

Dio turned his back to the wanderer and removed his vest, tossing it unceremoniously to the ground. Now that his back was no longer concealed, the silver-haired demon could the bloody base of Mary's fang protruding out about half an inch. The fang was imbedded in Dio's body around the stygian's mid-back, just to the right of the spine. Above and below the fang were similarly-sized bite marks that looked already half-healed.

Zero held the gauze in his left hand and with the right gingerly held the base of the intruding fang. The wanderer noticed that as he touched the base Dio's body stiffened. He placed his left hand near the fang to hold the stygian's back steady and began to pull on the large tooth. Despite the magenta-haired demon's obvious discomfort, Zero was forced to remove the fang very slowly as to refrain from tearing flesh or tissue. Fortunately for Dio, the fang was only around two inches in length and not curved.

Finally the fang was removed completely. The stygian had not uttered a single sound during the process, but when the tooth's pointed tip left his back he groaned softly. Zero firmly pressed the gauze to the open wound, holding his hand there for what felt like an eternity. The wanderer could feel and see the other demon's blood staining through the gauze.

"At…at least it was only one," Dio remarked, more to himself than the wanderer. "You can take your hand off me now. I'll be fine."

"…This wound should be cleaned," Zero advised.

Dio turned his head to the side and watched the silver-haired demon out of the corner of his eyes. "I can clean it later," he finally replied.

Similar to most demons, the stygian was quite stubborn, and Zero knew better than to argue with him. There was one question, though, that had been plaguing the wanderer ever since he had set eyes on the fang embedded in Dio's back.

"Dio?" he inquired softly. "You asked me to remove this on the pretext that you could not reach it. I can see very clearly that you should have been able to reach it with no problems. Why did you really come to me for assistance?"

The magenta-haired demon was silent for a few moments, as if he was debating with himself whether or not to tell the truth. "I'm just not used to doing this myself," he explained quietly. "Usually Alfred does this sort of thing for me. I guess I was afraid I would hurt myself or something."

Zero recalled a few months ago when he had seen the stygian storming through the hallway and approached him to discover why. Dio's least favorite butler, Sebastian, had (according to the stygian) apparently broken something important to Dio, and in a fit of rage the demon had sent both butlers to his home dimension until further notice.

The stygian was too proud to admit he had overreacted, and consequently the butlers had not been called back. Zero had not noticed how the absence of Sebastian and Alfred had truly affected Dio.

"I see." The wanderer slowly removed his hand from the other demon's back, holding the bloody gauze in one hand and the extracted fang in his other. Both of Zero's gloved hands were stained with blood—he absentmindedly noted that he would have to change gloves or clean the pair he was currently wearing.

Dio bent down stiffly, retrieved his clothing from the floor, and only after putting the vest back on turned to face the wanderer. "Thanks. I'll take those," he stated, taking the fang and gauze from Zero's hands. He walked past the silver-haired demon and stopped right in front of the bedroom door. With his back still facing the wanderer, he declared, "I'll train with you tomorrow, Zero" before exiting the room.

For demons, "training" normally meant mercilessly fighting each other until both parties were in near-death states. The stygian loathed such training. He considered it pointless because he was not allowed to actually kill his opponent. Zero, on the other hand, found it incredibly beneficial towards his lifetime goal of defeating Void. The only reason Dio offered to train was in return for the wanderer assisting him. Despite the fact that the stygian was the closest thing Zero had to a friend, they were both still demons, and the number one tacit rule of demons was that they never did any favors without expecting something in return.

Author's Notes: Well, here it is. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while.

-If you didn't catch it, demons in this story don't have to eat or sleep. When they do eat, they prefer human souls. Eating and sleeping are basically luxuries to them. Instead of sleeping, they can just remain idle for a while and it'll have the same effect. They can also see in the dark. Why? I dunno, I made it up.

-I'm not sure if what Dio's wearing on his upper body is actually considered a "vest," but that's better than what my friend calls it: "peck-strip". xD Dio's kinda a man-wh*re.

-This fanfiction was rated M because I wanted to be safe. Mostly due to Dio's swearing and his mentioning of adult material in the next chapter.

-Yeah, I needed a reason to have Alfred and Sebastian not there. It's a pretty bad reason, but at least I attempted to explain it, right? .

-I apologize to all the Dio fangirls and Zero fangirls. I know most people normally see Dio differently and expect Zero to be more...I dunno, submissive? I guess I just never imagined Zero like that, and technically Grand Chase hasn't really given him a personality yet. Sorry for everyone who doesn't like these interpretations of the characters.

-I double-apologize to the DioxZero fangirls. Sorry, I guess I always saw them as just friends. xD If you're looking for DioxZero stuff, go read "One Plus One, Remember it Please" by MagicianDoll.

-And finally, this entire story not read by a beta reader prior to publishing. Chances are there will be a crapload of errors. Thanks for understanding.


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you ever think about leaving here?"

"Excuse me?" Zero was seated beside Dio against the trunk of a tree. The moon above them was new, meaning that they were in almost complete darkness. Dio's rake hand, Grandark's eye, and Zero's mask-concealed eyes glowed dimly.

Fortunately for the two chasers, both of them were demons and consequently could see perfectly well in the dark. Both demons were exhausted, bruised, and bleeding from the training they had recently undergone. The stygian was also fairly certain that one of his ribs was broken.

Before asking that question out of the blue, Dio had been leaning up against the tree trunk with his head lolled back, eyes shut, and legs stretched out in front of him. The stygian remained in that position while repeating his question to Zero.

The wanderer was about three inches away from Dio, sitting up straight with Grandark placed in his lap. He was cleaning dirt and the stygian's blood from the blade while calmly maintaining eye contact with his sword's single green eye. After Dio repeated his question, the wanderer requested, "Please elaborate."

"You know, going back to our own dimension? I mean, Aernas and the grand Chase were pretty interesting at first, but after the novelty wore off it's been so boring," the stygian explained. After Zero did not reply, he continued, "And for another thing, I haven't gotten laid in **ages**!"

The wanderer was thankful that the other demon's eyes were shut; if they were not, Dio would likely have seen the silver-haired demon's cheeks beginning to flush a light pink. Embarrassment was the one emotion Zero had not yet mastered concealing.

The stygian grunted softly in irritation and shifted his weight. "Ugh, it's so frustrating. I'll only do it with other demons, which leaves three candidates. You're the closest thing I'd consider to a friend, and don't even get me started on Ley! That one night stand we had a few years ago was so traumatic that it almost made me swear off women forever! I don't know anything about Rufus, and to be perfectly honest he's not even that cute. Therefore, there's no one here to even have sex **with**!"

By that point the wanderer's entire face was burning, and he imagined that it looked quite red. In an attempt to calm himself he had looked away from Grandark's piercing eye to instead stare at the ground. He knew that the stygian possessed a shameless personality, but even so Zero could not imagine how one could speak such words so calmly.

A silence settled over the two demons for a while, interrupted only by the sounds of the night and their breathing. After about two minutes Zero remembered that he still had not answered the question the stygian had asked. "Occasionally I consider leaving," he revealed, continuing to stare blankly at the ground and clean the blade. "However, at home it is almost exactly the same. The only real differences are that Master Oz is sending me on missions rather than Knight Master, and it is only Gran and me instead of all these others. I still find Aernas interesting, though, and Void resides in this world, so I believe I will stay."

"Oz? So that's his name. What's he like?

"He is quite strict and a martinet. While his body is old and frail, he still retains much of his knowledge and mana. Master Oz treats me quite well," Zero replied almost instantly.

"Hah! Don't praise that weakling."

Both demons quickly looked at the blade. After being positive it had their undivided attention, Grandark resumed speaking. "He sentenced the both of us to long lives of pain and hard work for a cause that neither of us are even remotely passionate about. He even trapped me in this infernal sword body! If it was up to me, we would have left him ages ago."

"I didn't ask for your input, you overpowered piece of scrap metal."

Grandark huffed in annoyance and shut its eye. Zero had noticed that one of the sword's greatest pet peeves was when people ignored or refused to listen to it. The insults themselves did not particularly bother the sword. Gran would likely remain sulking until the magenta-haired demon left.

With a soft groan, the stygian forced himself to a standing position, using the butt of his scythe to assist him. Dio stretched for a moment before finally opening his eyes and staring up and the moonless sky. "Well, I guess I'll be off, then."

"Where are you going?"

"Not exactly sure," the stygian replied blithely. "Probably just to do the usual. You know, kill monsters, eat some souls, maybe masturbate later. I probably won't be back until tomorrow night. I doubt that anyone will ask you where I went, but if they do tell them to f*ck off for me." Without bothering to wait for a response, Dio teleported.

"He is a horrid influence," the sword commented. "Rather obnoxious, too…"

"Perhaps."

The blade glared up at him. "He did bring up a decent point, though. It is quite obvious that you are not exactly thrilled to be in Aernas, and the large number of people around here bothers you."

"Exactly. I should be able to overcome my dislike and discomfort if I ever want to possess discipline."

"'Discipline'? Tch, you should be more concerned about trying to find motivation," the sword stated dryly. "I don't know what that idiot was thinking when he created you. You have no reason to want to kill Void—he has not harmed you personally or anything you cared about. You have no loved ones who could be in danger if Void continued to live. If anything, you are merely stepping in for Oz, who can't defeat Void himself due to his age. The only reason you are pursuing Void is because you were told to."

The sword's words came as no surprise to Zero. He had known that from the very beginning. Even so, he did not like hearing it. Grandark was essentially in the same condition. The sword was only allowing itself to be used for such a purpose for two main reasons. The first was that, trapped in a sword body, there was not much it could do by itself in the first place. The second was that Grandark had been promised to be freed from its current body after Void was killed.

"He was desperate; it was his last resort to create us. While neither of us have suffered at Void's hands, he certainly has. It is likely that he has suffered far worse than either of us can even comprehend. Besides, to perfectly honest, I have no qualms with this situation. I have a purpose, I have you, and I have a friend. As far as I am concerned, that is all I require."

"You are complex only in your simplicity, Zero."

"Perhaps."

Author's Notes: Hi guys, welcome to chapter two. It takes place one night later from chapter one.

-Dio. He's got quite the pottymouth here. xD The main thing about my version of him is that he's almost completely shameless. If you didn't catch it, he's bi-sexual in this. Why? Have you seen how he dresses? -.- ; Also, if you're wondering why he only does it with other demons, it's because he claims humans get tired too easily. TMI, I know.

-That one night stand. Yeah, lol. xD Even though Dio and Ley pretty much hated each other before, one night for whatever reason they tried to go at it, and after a huge failure both of them have hated each other even more ever since. It was mainly put in there for teh lulz.

-The reason why Dio's not interested in Rufus is because I really don't like Rufus. It's petty, I know, but at least I'm being honest.

-Oz. I know a lot of people say that he's dead during the events of Grand Chase, but I personally have never read that anywhere. If I'm wrong and he really is dead, then I'm sorry for being misinformed. In this story Oz is alive and lying low in that demon dimension that Dio and Ley and all the other demons are from.

-Gran sure does a lot of talking in this one. xD Also, you've probably noticed that I consider Gran an "it" instead of "he." I haven't seen Grand Chase call it a he yet, but if it has then I'm sorry. Since it's technically just a possessed blade, I'm not positive it really even has a gender.

-Zero's motivation. So I remembered reading this other fic (Grand Chase: The Tale of Zero the Wanderer) and in it before Zero kills Void he talks about all the people Void killed and stuff in the demon wars. I remember just thinking to myself, "Well why does Zero care about those people? He was wandering around by himself with Gran all this time and stuff, so it's not like he really got close to anyone." Then I started having this entire mental conversation in my head about that kinda stuff. I dunno, that's just my path of thinking, and I mean absolutely NO offense to FullMetalFurbee (the author of that FF). Seriously, I really liked "Grand Chase: The Tale of Zero the Wanderer" and I want to see the next chapter.

-Ok, so I know this really isn't much of "M" material, but I just want to be safe on the rating. I know it's more of T+ sort of stuff than anything else. My friend is really convinced I should just change the rating to T. Maybe I will.

-And finally, big thanks to the aforementioned friend who convinced me to get off my butt and publish this story. You know who you are, bro. Thanks for the support.

As for the third and final chapter, it's currently being written. I hope to post it soon. Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Zero had waited under that tree for about half an hour before he had become sick of the scent of blood that enveloped him and decided to take a shower. As it was around two o' clock in the morning at the time, there was no one around to question why the wanderer was strolling through the Grand Chase mansion bloodied and battered.

He showered quickly (or as quickly as one could with the amount of hair Zero possessed) and was just about to turn off the water when he suddenly heard Grandark call his name. The demon quickly shut off the water, parted the curtain a sliver to look at the blade, and inquired, "Yes, Gran?"

The sword was currently leaned up against the wall near the door and facing the wall. "There was someone in here. I heard the door open and close."

"Are you positive? I know for a fact that I locked that door."

Grandark was silent for a moment before finally admitting, "Maybe you're right…just hurry up; it's far too humid in here."

The wanderer quickly pulled on the new set of armor he had set out for himself. He was mortified to discover that his mask was not among his garments where he had left it. Zero reasoned that it might have fallen from the countertop and hurriedly began to search for it. After his endeavor yielded nothing, the wanderer began to panic. Adrenaline began to surge through his veins as he quickly inspected every inch of the bathroom and repeatedly did not locate his precious mask.

"Zero? Is there something wrong?" the sword inquired dryly.

"My mask…it…it is not here. Gran, did you see who or what entered this room?"

The sword scoffed audibly. "You idiot! I'm facing the wall; I couldn't see a thing. Maybe if you didn't always make me face the wall because you're too embarrassed that I might see you naked we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"R-right," he replied with a small frown.

"Just calm down. Panicking isn't going to get you anywhere."

Zero seated himself in one corner of the room and gently cradled his head in his hands. He slowed his breathing and began to wonder who had discovered that the only time the wanderer removed his mask was while bathing.

He felt so bare and exposed without the mask. Normally the mask was only removed for minutes at a time, and the demon had been wearing it for so many years that he could not even recall a time where the mask had been foreign to him. "I will go speak to Knight Master," he resolved aloud. With Dio absent, she was the only one he trusted to assist him with his quandary.

"Fine, do what you will. I don't understand why you're so worked up about this. It's about time you stopped wearing that silly thing."

"I have my reasons, Gran."

The wanderer placed Grandark on his back and quickly walked through the deadly silence mansion again. He kept as quiet as he possibly could as to not wake any of the other chasers. After a few minutes he was standing in front of the door to Knight Master's bedroom. Zero reached out and tentatively knocked on the door a few times. He knew what time it was and he was aware that he likely would not receive a response.

To his surprise, the door opened almost immediately, revealing a still half-asleep and quite disgruntled Knight Master clad in a nightgown. "For the love of the six gods of Xenia, who the hell-?"

Knight Master cut herself off after properly recognizing Zero. When she suddenly noticed that his face was exposed, her ruby-colored eyes widened and her face paled to the color of a sheet. Zero was suddenly under the impression that she might scream and quickly placed a hand over her mouth to prevent the blonde from doing so.

"Please be quiet," he requested. "As you can see, my mask is missing. I have reason to believe someone stole it. I need your help to recover it."

Knight Master seemed to have calmed herself sufficiently by then, and the demon removed his hand to allow her to speak. She was attempting to look anywhere but at the wanderer's eyes; however every few moments the two would lock gazes and she would avert her eyes again. "You are likely jumping to conclusions, Zero. I severely doubt that anyone here would want to take your mask. You likely misplaced it. Tomorrow I will not assign you a mission. While everyone else is out on their missions you can stay here and search for your mask without anyone around to disturb you."

"What should I do until then?"

Knight Master yawned and instructed, "Return to your room and do not disturb anyone else. We humans have to sleep, you know."

"Yes ma'am." He turned around and walked back to his room. While Zero was a bit relieved that he would have an opportunity to locate his mask, the demon was also slightly upset that Knight Master did not trust him. The rational portion of the demon's mind told him that she had simply been a bit disgruntled for being woken up so early in the morning, but he was still unconvinced. The wanderer was normally very responsible and rarely lost anything he was given.

Another thought that troubled him was her reaction to his eyes. He was not quite sure how he was supposed to interpret her response. Zero remembered seeing his own eyes in the mirror once a long time ago and thinking that they appeared perfectly normal. Both Grandark and his master had seen the wanderer's unconcealed face and had not reacted in the slightest.

"Gran?" he asked quietly.

"I'm sleeping," the blade replied.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Is it about your eyes?"

The silence that followed was all the answer the sword needed. "What about them?"

"Do they have…an unusual appearance?"

"Of course," the blade stated matter-of-factly. "What? You thought they looked normal? I thought the fact that they're practically soulless (or at least as soulless as you can be, considering demons don't even have souls to begin with) is the reason you wore that stupid mask."

Zero was silent for a moment, allowing the information he had just heard to sink in. "I remember seeing them…" he mused to himself.

"If I recall correctly, the last time you really looked at yourself in the mirror was only a few months after you were created. They looked normal then."

"What happened?"

"Over time they changed. Even though you only took off the mask while bathing and you'd make me face the wall when that happened I'd occasionally catch glimpses of them every few years when you'd accidentally set me on an angle or forget to put on the mask until after you picked me up," Grandark explained. "They changed slowly, just like how your voice began to sound more like a monotone and you started showing less and less emotion. It was very gradual."

"Neither you nor Master Oz has ever mentioned that before," Zero stated.

The blade brusquely replied, "There was no reason to. It's not like you asked."

For the remainder of the walk, both Zero and Grandark were silent. The wanderer decided to read quietly in his room until the others had left. At around eight in the morning the sound of the other chasers dashing through the halls to complete their morning rituals could be heard. Around one hour later the halls were once again completely quiet.

At first the wanderer only examined the public rooms, such as the library and the living room. He severely doubted that he would find his mask in those rooms—he was correct—but he wished to be thorough. Eventually he resorted to invading the other chasers' privacy and quickly rummaged through their rooms. Luckily none of them seemed to keep their rooms locked.

To Zero's great surprise and bemusement, he finally found his mask in Lass' room stuffed in the small gap between the dresser and the wall. After quickly returning to his own room he began to wonder why Lass of all people would take something so precious to the wanderer. The demon had barely even spoken ten words to the thief in all the time he was part of the Grand Chase. Similar to the majority of the other members of Grand Chase, Lass had shown little to no interest in Zero.

"He **is** a thief," the sword pointed out from its place on the wanderer's lap. "The boy could have simply stolen it because it would be a challenge."

"It certainly is a possibility."

Grandark was about to suggest another possible reason when the sound of someone knocking on the door interrupted it. When the wanderer answered the door he was greeted with the sight of another chaser that had never taken an interest in him before. Ley was floating about an inch above the ground and haughtily glaring at him. Jeeves stood protectively at his mistress' side.

"Do you know where that pathetic whelp who calls himself a demon has gone?" she asked.

"No. All I know is that he is not here and likely will remain so until nightfall."

She scoffed and muttered, "You're useless."

Zero did not find the summoner particularly amiable, and he tended to avoid her as much as possible. It seemed that she did not like him very much either, often mocking him for his lack of horns and wings. Ley also seemed to find his lack of a clan utterly repulsive. Normally the wanderer would have ended the conversation there, but this time the situation was different. "…Ley, have you noticed something…amiss with Lass lately?"

"Lass? I don't normally associate myself with humans. They have such short lifespans that they're dead before you even really know them." The summoner promptly turned and left without another word.

Oddly enough, Jeeves did not follow his mistress. He smiled at the silver-haired demon and revealed, "My lady was searching for Lord Dio because she noticed him speaking with Lass the other day. Perhaps that information will help you."

"…Thank you."

"You did inform us of the approximate time Lord Dio would return. It is only fair." The butler quickly gave Zero a small nod and ran after Ley.

The wanderer found himself reluctant to believe that the stygian had been even remotely involved in the theft of Zero's mask. Grandark, however, instantly assumed that the magenta-haired demon was entirely responsible.

"There is no way to know for sure unless we ask him ourselves," he told the sword.

The silver-haired demon decided to wait in Dio's room. He had only been in the stygian's room twice before, and he was rather surprised to see what a sorry state it was currently in. Clothes were strewn all over the floor and furniture; the bed sheets were draped over only half of the bed and covered in rather suspicious-looking stains. The curtains were torn and much of the furniture was scratched up—likely the work of the stygian's rake hand. The entire room faintly smelled of blood and another bodily fluid that Zero did not want to think about.

"I understand that his butlers are not here to clean for him…but how could anyone live in such a horrid cesspool?" Grandark wondered aloud.

"I have no idea."

The wanderer had resorted to standing in what appeared to be the cleanest corner of the room, as there was nowhere clean for him to sit. He spoke with his sword until the sun began to set and the room started to become dark. Eventually the door opened and Dio stepped inside, a smug look on the magenta-haired demon's face.

After a moment the stygian noticed Zero and his smug smile became a small pout. "Oh, you still have your mask," he commented disappointedly.

"…So it **was** you."

"Yep! I've been planning this out for months, and I'm quite proud of my little plan," the stygian declared. "I've wondered what you were hiding under that mask since the day we met!"

Zero recalled the day the two demons had first met. Dio had taken one look at Grandark and asked the wanderer if he was compensating for something.

"First I had to send my butlers away so they wouldn't be around to interfere. It was hard living without them, but if Sebastian had ended up leaking my plan to anyone I probably would have killed him, and he's no use to me dead. Then I had to find someone else to steal your mask for me. We both know that I'm not big into the whole 'stealth' thing. I figured that Lass would be a good choice because he's a thief and all. It was a simple feat to blackmail him into it. He had about a month to learn your behavioral patterns and figure out the best time to get that mask away from you. Somehow—I'm not going to bother to question his methods—he figured out you take it off when you shower and reported that back to me. I trained with you and made sure you got dirty in the process so you'd shower and Lass would have an opportunity to take your mask. Then I left so you wouldn't suspect me. Lass was supposed to hand the mask over to me when I got back, but I can see that that didn't work out the way I'd hoped. I know you probably don't care about this, but I feel like you should know what work went into the plan you ruined."

"What about getting injured?" Grandark asked. The wanderer was still attempting to comprehend what he had just heard and said nothing.

Dio frowned. "No, that wasn't part of the plan. I know that this probably won't count for anything after what I just told you, but I really am thankful for how you helped me. That could have ended really badly if it wasn't for you." He then gave the silver-haired demon an unusually warm, grateful sort of smile that Zero had never seen on the stygian before. The strangest part was that it seemed completely unfeigned.

The wanderer was torn between his feelings of betrayal and his willingness to forgive Dio. A part of him wanted revenge for what the stygian had done; wanted to at the very least cause the other demon physical injury. Despite the anger he was currently feeling, Zero kept his features void of emotion and did not move a muscle. Eventually the managed to subdue his feelings of rage and think rationally once more. He noticed that the magenta-haired demon seemed to be waiting for some sort of reaction.

"What? Nothing? You have **nothing** to say to me?" Dio asked incredulously.

"I am merely dismissing this as a childish prank. I can understand that you would want to satiate your curiosity, and as long as you never attempt something like this again I will forgive you for attempting to take my mask," the wanderer replied. In the moment just before he had responded to the other demon's question, Zero had remembered the grateful little smile Dio had given him moments before and realized that there truly was some shred of friendship between the two demons.

To his surprise, the stygian beamed. "I was expecting you to try and maim me, but that was also a pretty interesting response," he stated. "And don't worry, I'll never do something like that again. It was too much work putting it all together, and it didn't even pay off in the end. But tell me, why did you decide to give me another chance?"

"No relationship is ever absolute, Dio. Despite the fact that you occasionally disregard my feelings and attempt to humiliate me for your own entertainment, you still have taught me much. When I first joined the Grand Chase you showed me where everything was located and informed me about everyone else living here. Even though you abhor training you always offer to train with me when you are bored or owe me for a favor. I ultimately still consider you my friend."

"Good. I need at least one person around here to be on decent terms with," Dio said, beginning to casually head out the door. "I like having someone to talk to, and you're a good listener, even if you are a bit weird."

"Where are you going?"

"To get back my damn butlers. I can't live in a hellhole like this any longer."

After the stygian had left, Grandark inquired, "Are you sure that you don't want some sort of revenge? He did intend to expose your eyes to everyone in this mansion."

The corners of Zero's lips tugged upwards into a little half-smile. "No, you know I am above such petty things, Grand."

"It was worth a try. I'm only trying to look out for you, you know. Dio's one of the worst demons you could have befriended."

The wanderer's barely-present smile faded. "I know that, Gran. In order to truly be Dio's friend I must accept the features of him that I dislike. It will be difficult, but I believe I can manage."

"You're wasting your efforts."

"Perhaps."

Author's Notes: HUZZAH, this story is le finished. Hooray for closure.

-I'm assuming that demons take showers. xD

-Yes, apparently Zero has multiple sets of armor but only one mask. lol.

-Knight Master wears a nightgown now. Why? I have no idea. I just sort of made that up.

-Demons have cores instead of souls.

-I always thought Jeeves looked like a nice guy. So yeah, in this story he is. I don't really know much about Jeeves, and no one really talks about him, so I kinda just made up my own interpretation of him. I really don't like Ley though. Seriously, the only real reason she's even in the game is for fanservice.

-Dio really doesn't know how to clean up after himself because he's always had others do it for him. Ah, the life of demon royalty.

-I have no idea what exactly Dio used to blackmail Lass with. Use your imagination for that one. I'm sure whatever you readers can come up with is better than what I could think up. xD

-Sorry this chapter was around a day late. It's a bit longer than the others, so that's why it took an extra day. -.- Although really that's no excuse because my chapters are super small...

-**UPDATE**: Actually, another person did review. Thank you aika-chan02.

-Well, I'm done here! Thanks for everyone who actually read this. If you actually read this far I commend you.


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